Lauer Presses DeMint To 'Come Around' On Obama's TSA Nominee

NBC's Matt Lauer, on Monday's Today show, used the occasion of the bombing
attempt of Northwest Flight 253, to press Republican Senator Jim DeMint to stop
being the last "hold-out" and "come around," on approving Obama's pick for TSA
director Errol Southers. However Lauer failed to mention Obama took eight months
to make his choice as well as the fact that DeMint is
concerned that Southers' choice could lead to collective bargaining that
would "bring the security concerns of TSA under the authority of union bosses."

The following exchange came during the 7am half-hour of the January 4 Today
show:

MATT LAUER: You say we're all on the same page. You are the single hold-out,
Senator, in, in approving the President's choice for the director of the TSA,
Errol Southers and I'm, I'm just curious, in, in light of Flight 253 are you
still gonna hold out on that nomination or are you maybe gonna come around?

SEN. JIM DEMINT: Well unfortunately the President took eight months to even
nominate someone for that position. And what I've asked for, Matt, is just some
debate and a recorded vote. They, they want to pass Mr. Southers in, in secret,
without a recorded vote. I think there's some significant issues. I've asked him
if he is going to change the policy of collective bargaining within the TSA and
he will not give me a straight answer. Secretary Napolitano has said she intends
to submit our airport security to collective bargaining. This is all about
politics, and not security. What I want is a few hours of debate on Mr.
Southers, to help focus the nation back on security. And get this politics,
particularly union politics out of our security apparatus.

The following is the full transcript of Lauer's interview with DeMint:

LAUER: Thank you. Over the weekend John Brennan who's one of President
Obama's chief counter-terrorism officials said when it comes to Flight 253,
Northwest Flight 253 and the attempt to blow it up, there is no smoking gun, no
single piece of evidence that should have alerted officials that this person was
attempting this. Do you agree with that assessment?

DEMINT: Well Matt the events of the last 10 days remind us of how important
security is at our airports. And we need to remember that it's important that
our airport security guards be flexible and able to change immediately as they
are now. And that's why it's so important that we continue our vigilance. Now
Mr. Brennan said there's no smoking gun, but there was a whole lot of smoke,
Matt. That for a father to come in and say his son is involved in terrorist
activities, for a passenger to buy a ticket with cash and no checked luggage and
international flights. I think the President has agreed that there were a lot of
signals here that we should have picked up on. Maybe not one smoking gun, but a
whole lot of smoke.

LAUER: Does someone lose his or her job over this, Senator? Is there someone
who was so lax in responsibility that, that person is out?

DEMINT: I think it's a mistake to look for one person right now, Matt. The
system failed as the President said. The whole reason for the Homeland Security
Agency is to make sure that the different agencies speak to each other. That
apparently is not happening. The, the 9/11 bill that we passed in Congress that
was supposed to help fix this, missed that most important point. To force these
agencies to talk to each other. So we need to go back to basics here. Get the
politics out of this. And focus on the security of our country.

LAUER: You, you hear a lot of people now criticizing the President, saying
he's taken his eye off the ball with his focus on health care and with the
economy, two things that were obviously important to him. Is, is there some
reality to that, do you think? Or is that political grandstanding? People trying
to score points with an attempted terror attack?

DEMINT: Again, I don't think we should try to blame whether it's the
President or any other person right now, but a lot of us have been concerned
over the last year, that the President did seem to downplay the threat of
terror. He doesn't use the word any more. He hesitates to say that there's a war
on terror. But in the last few days, he seems to have, have, have come around to
the idea that there are people in Yemen and other places who are intent on
hurting Americans and I think that puts us all on the same page. And hopefully
we can take the politics out of this. Focus on security. And the President seems
to be in the right place now.

LAUER: You say we're all on the same page. You are the single hold-out,
Senator, in, in approving the President's choice for the director of the TSA,
Errol Southers and I'm, I'm just curious, in, in light of Flight 253 are you
still gonna hold out on that nomination or are you maybe gonna come around?

DEMINT: Well unfortunately the President took eight months to even nominate
someone for that position. And what I've asked for, Matt, is just some debate
and a recorded vote. They, they want to pass Mr. Southers in, in secret, without
a recorded vote. I think there's some significant issues. I've asked him if he
is going to change the policy of collective bargaining within the TSA and he
will not give me a straight answer. Secretary Napolitano has said she intends to
submit our airport security to collective bargaining. This is all about
politics, and not security. What I want is a few hours of debate on Mr.
Southers, to help focus the nation back on security. And get this politics,
particularly union politics out of our security apparatus.

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